Wenger leaps to Eboue defence

20 September 2009 11:37

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has leapt to the defence of Emmanuel Eboue following the latest cheating controversy to surround the Gunners.
Eboue was booked for a deliberate handball during the Gunners' 4-0 rout of Wigan Athletic on Saturday.
The Ivory Coast international attempted to nudge a cross from Eduardo towards goal with his hand in full view of the referee.
Eboue was booked but Wenger has rejected suggestions that the midfielder was deliberately cheating.
"Of course we want to stamp out cheating in the game," said Wenger.
"It is not necessarily cheating sometimes, it (handball) can be a reflex as well."
Eboue was involved in a diving incident during the Gunners' 2-1 defeat at Manchester United earlier in the month.
He went to ground at Old Trafford just days after team-mate Eduardo had been banned for two games by UEFA after being found guilty of simulation in a Champions League victory over Celtic.
"When the player goes down sometimes it is not always because he wants to cheat," explained Wenger.
"It can be a foul and he makes a bit more of it, but I feel in England that the personality of the player who does it is more important than the importance of the foul and the cheating.
"I mean some players get away with things and others don't."